Consultancy – Final Evaluation of Building a pathway for Durable Solutions for Syrian Refugees and IDPs in Iraq at Oxfam GB

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Project Background

Oxfam in Iraq is implementing a project titled ” Building a Pathway for Durable Solutions for Syrian Refugees and IDPs in Iraq” during the period of December 1, 2020- July 31, 2022. The project is funded by the European Regional Development and Protection Programme for Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq (RDPP II) under the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (MNS), and in partnership with Oxfam IBIS. The project is being implemented with a partnership with Kurdistan Organization for Human Rights Watch (KOHRW) – Erbil, STER Organization for Human Development – Dohuk, and Women’s Organization for Legal Assistance (WOLA) – Sulaymaniyah.

The primary objective of this project is to contribute to policies and programming in Iraq that are more conducive to durable solutions for refugees and IDPs as a result of being informed by locally-led and evidence-based advocacy.

Impact Indicator A: # statements or initiatives by national or local government officials supportive of refugees being enabled to avail themselves of durable solutions (RDPP C2.1)

Impact Indicator B: # of policies or programs by national or local governments that promote the ability of refugees to avail themselves of a durable solution (RDPP C1)

Impact Indicator C. # Research is used or referenced in country response plans and strategies (RDPP C.2.2)

Oxfam has identified two interconnected pathways of change for that to happen:

Outcome 1) Local/national actors are capable to advocate on behalf of displacement-affected communities on the development and implementation of durable solutions-related policies and programming. Enhance local partners’ capacity to influence and support DS strategy in Iraq through the advocacy toolkit and training plans which will result in locally led advocacy action plans.

Outcome Indicator 1.a: # Advocacy action plans that are developed with the consultation of persons of concern, and based on evidence

Outcome Indicator 1.b: # of partners that are on track to achieve targets in their own advocacy action plans

Outcome 2) Relevant stakeholders have a better understanding and awareness of the rights and needs of refugees, IDPs and host communities in Iraq and are able to support improved policies and programming in relation to Durable Solutions. A strong evidence base is established to support advocacy on DS, which deepens the understanding of existing DS activities and initiatives and informs clear definitions and recommendations.

Outcome 2.a: # of meetings that incorporate RDPP-supported research (RDPPC2.1.1 Q43)

Outcome 2.b: # of advocacy action plans that are successfully implemented by partners with Oxfam support (RDPP C.2.2.1)

Outcome 2.c: % of partners who received Oxfam support in advocacy found support useful (RDPP C2.2.2)

Through these pathways, and with the support of Oxfam, local partners will identify and create opportunities for engagement by influencing key stakeholders through advocacy initiatives such as campaigns, targeted stakeholder engagement, and development of policy pieces, leading to raised awareness about the needs, challenges and barriers facing refugee, IDP, returnee communities in Iraq that can in turn influence the development and implementation of DS strategies in Iraq.

Evaluation Purpose And Scope

The purpose of the evaluation is to help Oxfam and its partners to conduct an end-of-the-project evaluation to assess the progress of the project against its goal and objectives and to learn from what works well and less well. The evaluation will provide input to upcoming similar programs. Furthermore, the evaluation will provide more understanding on what worked in terms of advocacy and influencing in the context of working with national partners and within the context of Iraq. this is anticipated to happen through measuring the real impact of the implemented influencing activities and the intended or unintended and direct and indirect changes or impact that happened during the project duration.

The final evaluation will be looking mainly at the project components implemented: 1) strengthening of the 3 project partners (KOHRW in Erbil, STER in Dohuk, and WOLA in Sulaymaniyah) capacities to plan and conduct advocacy initiatives; 2) research developed with regards to the situation impacting displacement affected communities; 3) evidence- based advocacy with relevant stakeholders at various levels implemented under this project. If needed, the scope of the evaluation may be further elaborated by the evaluator in the inception report.

The Role

We are looking for a consultant to provide capacity strengthening for Building a Pathway for Durable Solutions for Syrian Refugees and IDPs in Iraq

Evaluation Objectives And Questions

The overall objective of the RDPP final evaluation is to measure the overall progress of the project towards the project’s outcomes, extract the learnings from project design and project implementation from our work with partners and communities. The final evaluation will also test the TOC of the project and the assumptions that were defined in the project design and how it influenced the change tracks. It will further provide an analysis of the project activities and how it contributed to achieving the project outcomes and outputs, and analysis of challenges and opportunities that might have happened during the project duration. It will also capture the unintended results and unseen factors of change.

The evaluation shall conform to OECD/DAC’s Quality Standards for Development Evaluation. It will further identify and assess key internal and external factors that have contributed, affected, or impeded the achievements of the project, and how Oxfam and the partners have managed these factors. The objective of this evaluation is to evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability.

Specific Objectives of the Evaluation:

• To assess the design, planning, delivery and management of the project by Oxfam and its partners in accordance with Oxfam Programme Standards and donor requirements.
• To identify and assess key internal and external factors that have contributed to, affected, or impeded the achievements of the project, and how Oxfam and the partners have managed these factors.
• Review the project outcome indicators and update the final/endline values in the log frame
• To draw key lessons and learning from the project and make recommendations that will help inform Oxfam’s formulation and design of future projects that will benefit the Iraqi displaced, host, and returnee communities affected by the armed conflict.
• To assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the project on IDPs and refugees.
• Describe and assess the efforts of stakeholders in support of the implementation of the project
• Assess the likelihood of continuation and sustainability of project outcomes and benefits after completion of the project.
• Examine the extent to which the impact of the project has reached the intended beneficiaries

Key Evaluation Criteria

Relevance and Appropriateness:

• To what extent were the project activities responding to recipients/target beneficiaries and identified needs and priorities defined by national and international actors.
• Analyse whether and how the project activities responded to any changes that might have happened during the project duration
• How did the project activities complement and align to similar activities and influence efforts implemented by national and international actors?
• Analyze the relevance of the designed project activities to the project overall goal and specific goals. Furthermore, were they relevant to the project theory of change and the identified outcomes and outputs.
• How relevant was the geographic location to the project activities either at the beneficiary level or for influencing?
• Was the project design appropriate to the risks and challenges identified through the project design or might have emerged during the project duration. (An analysis of challenges and risks within the internal and external environment needs to be provided)

*Impact:***

• To what extent has the project generated or is expected to generate significant positive or negative, intended, or unintended changes in the lives of recipients and in their environment?
• To what extent has the project contributed or is expected to contribute to: Statements or initiatives by national or local government officials supportive of refugees and IDPs being enabled to avail themselves of durable solutions; policies or programs by national or local governments that promotes the ability of refugees and IDPs to avail themselves of a durable solution; research used or referenced in country response plans and strategies?
• To what extent has the project contributed to building the capacity of the project partners to influencing and implementing advocacy initiatives within the project activities.
• How confident are the project partners to carry on with similar activities in the future?

*Effectiveness:***

• To what extent has the project achieved its objectives, and its results, including any differential results across different groups?
• What factors have contributed to achieving or not achieving intended project outcomes and set objectives?
• Have the M&E system delivered robust and useful information that could be used to assess progress towards outcomes and contribute to learning?
• Has the accountability system ensured participation, regular feedback/complaint from the community and provided a timely response?
• Assess how the partner portfolio and the mix of different types of partners have contributed to the objectives of the strategy.

Efficiency:

• To what extent has the project delivered results in an economic and timely way?
• Was the project designed and/or amended throughout the implementation period to provide the best value for money?
• Was this project the most cost effective as compared to similar projects?
• Were the resources for running all the activities available, adequate and was this the best use of resources to achieve results?
• To what extent has effective coordination and collaboration with existing interventions and partners been addressed and achieved?

Sustainability:

• To what extent are there financial, institutional, socio-economic, and/or environmental mechanisms built into the design of the project for sustaining project results after end of external support?
• To what extent can the activities of the project continue after donor funding ceased? Is there an exit/sustainability strategy in place or planned?
• Is it likely that the benefits of the project (capacities developed; linkages, mutual learning and knowledge and experiences shared) would be sustainable or is there any action required at the endpoint?
• To what extent do project recipients and/or partner country stakeholders have ownership, capacity and resources to maintain the activity results after external funding ceases?
• What were/are the major factors that influenced the achievement or non-achievement of sustainability of the project?

Evaluation approach And Methodology

Oxfam recommends an inclusive mixed-methods approach, a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methods that are relevant to the nature of the project and the evaluation objective. It should be utilization-focused, gender-responsive and explore the possibility of utilizing participatory methods for developing case studies and/or examples to support the finding of the evaluation process. Data should be disaggregated by sex and according to other relevant project-specific parameters.

Therefore, the data collection for this evaluation will contain various tools and methodologies (both quantitative and qualitative approaches). The consultant is expected to develop a detailed methodology (to be endorsed by Oxfam) for this evaluation. We anticipate that this evaluation will be a participatory review and learning exercise. Thus, it requires the consultant(s)/firms to be experienced in participatory approaches to learning and inquiry, and especially in seeking the views and perceptions of key stakeholders

Some of the data collection tools expected to be used during the evaluation are:

• Desk review: The consultant(s) will also conduct a desk study/ literature review of all available documentation in preparation for the evaluation, including a review of different program documents, such as monitoring, quarterly, annual, and study reports, implementing partner advocacy action plans and reports, research, policy and influencing products, technical training reports, project proposals, MEAL framework, etc and analyzing secondary data. The evaluation methodology should make use of different data already generated by Oxfam’s and partners’ programs and the MEAL team. The information and findings of the desk review should be integrated with the data and findings from primary data collection and analysis, and not placed in a separate section.
• Interviews with Key Informants: The team are expected to conduct a range of interviews with key informants and stakeholders and will visit and interview relevant project staff, partner staff and research team, governmental actors [1]who were included in the project activities , Oxfam IBIS, Oxfam in Iraq team a number of meetings will need to be conducted with Oxfam team in Iraq and the project partners to guide the consultant to prepare the inception report and identity actors for the data collection.
• Focus group discussions: The team will conduct focus group discussions with direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project including partner staff, Oxfam Iraq Project staff, Iraqi IDPs, Syrian refugees.

Evaluation Deliverables And Timeframe

It is expected that a time and work plan is presented in the application and further detailed in the inception report. The evaluation shall be carried out in July 2022 with the final report submitted to Oxfam by 30 August 2022. The exact dates of the evaluation are to be confirmed with the selected consultant(s) or firm. The timing of any field visits, surveys and interviews will be agreed upon during the inception phase. Covid19 may impact on the evaluation process and final date of submission of the report. The expected deliverables are as following:

• An inception report that will form the basis for the continued evaluation process and shall be approved by Commissioning Manager and Oxfam team in Iraq before the evaluation proceeds to implementation. The inception report should be written in English and cover evaluability issues and interpretations of evaluation questions, present the evaluation approach/methodology, methods for data collection and analysis as well as the full evaluation design. The data collection tools along with the expected organisations and people who will be part of the process, will also be provided for approval. All limitations to the methodology and methods need to be made explicit and discussed. A specific work plan, including number of hours/working days for each team member, for the remainder of the evaluation, should be presented.
• The draft and final report shall be provided in English and based on an agreed-upon structure, which should be developed and presented to Oxfam team in Iraq following the data collection process and prior to the development of the draft report. The evaluation approach/methodology and methods for data collection used shall be clearly described and explained in detail, including all limitations to the methodology. Findings based on the data analyzed and the evidence presented will support the conclusions. Evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations should reflect a gender analysis/an analysis of identified and relevant cross-cutting issues. The report findings and analysis need to be supported by short stories/case studies/quotes to showcase and measure the impact of the project. Recommendations and lessons learned should flow logically from conclusions. Recommendations should be specific, directed to relevant stakeholders and categorized as short-term, medium-term and long-term. The report should be no more than a maximum of 40 pages excluding annexes (including Terms of Reference and Inception Report), please refer to Annex2.

Total expected level of effort: 25 working days

Note: Following is the suggested number of days. Actual days will be agreed upon with the selected consultant(s)/firm as per the work plan to be delivered during the time frame.

• Start-up meeting (1/2 day)
• Review essential documents of the project, including but not limited to the original project proposal, interim or on-going internal reports, and evaluations and lessons learned exercises undertaken thus far and review the key questions suggested and if necessary, propose adjustment (3 to 4 days) – work to be done from consultant’s/firm’s home location, all documents will be shared by Oxfam via email);
• Develop and submit the draft inception report with a detailed evaluation plan (to be endorsed by Oxfam) (2 to 3 days);
• Developing and translating of evaluation tools (tools must be developed in English and translated in Arabic to be administer in the field. (2 to 3 days);
• Primary data collection (quantitative and qualitative) (8 to 10 days in Iraq- KRG Governorate);
• Data analysis and preparation of draft evaluation report in English to be presented to Oxfam (no more than 40 pages excluding annexes, including executive summary not exceeding 3 pages) (7 to 10 days);
• Meeting (online) to share and validate the findings from the evaluation (1/2 day). Selected Oxfam and partner staff will participate in this meeting. The donour will be invited to participate in a feedback meeting if available.
• Finalize the final evaluation report according to changes/modifications agreed upon between Oxfam in Iraq and the consultant/firm and feedback received. Feedback from Oxfam staff and partners will be received within one (1) week after submission of the draft report. (2 to 3 days). Oxfam will then prepare a management response to be annexed to the evaluation report.

Payment Instruction

The overall expression of interest/EOIs/ will be evaluated based on technical and financial proposals demonstrating the value of money and a strong technical description.

Payment will be done in two installments, 30% upon contract signature, 70% upon Oxfam’s approval of the final evaluation report.

What costs to include in the offer: Consultants/firms should include the following costs in their offer’s budget: daily rate, cost of international travel (home location of consultant/firm to Erbil and back, applies to international consultants only).

What costs not to include in the offer: Oxfam will pay for and procure the following for the evaluation and therefore the following costs should NOT be included in the offer: pick-up/drop-off of consultant(s) from the airport, travel inside Iraq for data collection and meetings, interpretation services during meetings with beneficiaries/the partner, printing/photocopying costs.

Note that payment will be made based on the budget in the offer (not based on actual expenses incurred by the consultant). No receipts will be requested from the consultant towards the end of the evaluation.

Evaluation Management

The consultant(s) /firm will report directly to the Country MEAL Coordinator and will work closely with the Deputy Country Director, Partnership Manager, PAC Manager, and partners staff in the field. The Country MEAL Coordinator will coordinate and facilitate the evaluation process with the selected firm/consultant(s), jointly with the Deputy Country Director, Partnership Manager and PAC Manager

Codes Of Behaviour

The evaluation process will be directed by Oxfam’s guidelines for the ethical conduct of evaluations and research, guiding the evaluation team through careful consideration of the key ethical implications at every stage of the evaluation. These guidelines are available at this link: http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/undertaking-research-with-ethics-253032

The selected consultant or firm will be asked to sign and adhere to Oxfam’s Code of Conduct.

Sharing And Using Findings

Oxfam International’s Policy on Program Evaluation requires Confederation members to act on the commitment to transparency by making public the Executive Summary and a Management Response to all final evaluations. The Policy is available at this link: http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/oxfam-program-evaluation-policy-dec10.pdf

Disclosure

Although free to discuss with the authorities on anything relevant to the assignment, under the terms of reference, the consultant is not authorized to make any commitments on behalf of Oxfam. All data collected as part of this consultancy belongs to Oxfam and public dissemination of the data and evaluation products can only be done with the written consent of the Oxfam.

To ensure accuracy partners should be consulted on the governmental actors who were most engaged within the project activities and who can provide relevant inputs.

What we are looking for

Our next consultant should be led by a person (or persons) or firm with the following:

Mandatory qualification:

• Higher university degree in Humanitarian/Development studies, education, economics, statistics, social sciences, gender or any other related fields.
• A minimum of 10 years of proven experience in conducting quality evaluations of humanitarian and development interventions and leading evaluation teams
• Demonstrated experience in evaluating humanitarian response and advocacy related projects, with some experience in gender and protection in emergencies programming or programmatic knowledge of these two sectors
• Experience in the use of quantitative and participatory qualitative methods of data collection
• Strong facilitation and English writing skills are also required
• Knowledge of ICT tools for mobile data collection
• Commitment to safeguarding policy
• Commitment to feminist principles in Evaluation
• Knowledge and experience of the context in Iraq or in the Middle East

The following are not mandatory but desirable:

• Familiarity or fluency in Arabic is an advantage

Experience of working modalities of Oxfam is preferred

We Offer

This role will give you an opportunity to make a difference in career development, to act as a key contributor, to work with a group of passionate people that are specialists in their fields etc, training and development, offers fair pay and competitive benefits package.

Flexfam

We believe flexible working is key to building the Oxfam of the future, so we’re open to talking through the type of flexible arrangements which might work for you. We think this role would work particularly well as a partially home-based role or job share.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom Oxfam GB engages. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. Oxfam GB also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.